Pubdate: Mon, 06 Feb 2012
Source: Metrowest Daily News (MA)
Copyright: 2012 MetroWest Daily News
Contact:  http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/619

MESSAGES AND MARIJUANA

Alarmed at a small uptick in marijuana use by teens, officials are 
blaming the voters, and warning them not to do it again.

Surveys of students in MetroWest high schools showed regular marijuana 
use increased from 20.2 percent in 2006 to 23.5 percent in 2010. Pot 
use in local middle schools fell dramatically during the same period, 
which shows how complicated teen substance abuse can be.

But too many of today's drug warriors rush to the simplest 
explanation: politics and laws. In 2008, Massachusetts adults 
decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults. 
This fall, a ballot initiative will seek to legalize and regulate it 
for medical purposes.

So we're hearing the old trope about "sending the wrong message" to 
youth, who now assume pot is OK for them to use, and who'll assume 
it's even better if physicians are allowed to prescribe it for sick people.

First, elections don't send messages to children. That's not what 
elections are for, and few youth pay much attention. Children mostly 
get their messages from the adults in their lives, and if what the 
alarmed officials are saying is true, there are important messages 
some adults aren't bothering to send.

There's the message, for instance, that just because a drug is OK for 
adults, that doesn't mean it's good for children. Marijuana, while 
relatively benign for adults, can cause real problems for teenagers 
whose brains are not yet fully developed. Better to stay away from all 
drugs until you're old enough to handle it.

Why should that message be so hard to deliver? We do it all the time 
with alcohol. Nobody suggests criminalizing booze for everyone in 
order to "send a message" that it is not a good idea for kids.

Granted, it might be easier for teens to get the message about age 
appropriateness if marijuana, like alcohol, was sold only to adults in 
state-licensed stores instead of sold by other kids in the schoolyard, 
but "not till you're older" is a message parents have been delivering 
for millennia.

Then there's the message that prescription drugs are good for sick 
people, but dangerous when used for recreational purposes. That 
message isn't getting sent, and it's critically important: Substance 
abuse experts say prescription drugs are the most dangerous, and 
fastest growing kind of drug abuse in the country today.

Thankfully, most of the adults working on teen substance abuse in our 
towns know these messages and understand that sharing facts, not 
spreading fear, is the best way to prevent drug abuse among youth and 
make them better prepared to deal with the choices that will face them 
as adults.

Parents and other adults need to get the message as well. Tell kids 
the truth about the law: Marijuana possession is still illegal for 
juveniles and driving under the influence is still a serious offense. 
Tell them about the harm drugs can do, especially to young people. But 
keep the politics out of it.
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MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.